Despite the earlier dire weather warnings, the gods shined on us with a mainly sunny and dry day when Café Bridge returned to the Weekday Cross and Victoria Street area of Nottingham.

94 intrepid bridge players turned up at All Bar One at half past nine to register, enjoy a coffee and get their instructions for the day. Moving so many people between 6 different cafés creates its own logistical issues but fortunately no one went missing as they played 30 boards of bridge, interspersed with enjoying lunch at one of the venues, before returning to All Bar One for a well earned glass of wine, or juice, drawing the raffle and presentation of prizes.

The winners were John Edwards and Paul Morris scoring 67.50%, closely followed by Ray and Julia Furlonger on 65.14%. The day is much more about enjoying a friendly game of bridge among friends than a serious competition so prizes are also awarded to those scoring closest to 50%; these were won by Pam Wakefield and Derek Poole and by Stefka Samus and Anna Harper.

In addition to people having a thoroughly enjoyable day, the event is also an opportunity to raise money for a very worthwhile charity, so raising £1,750 for our chosen charity – Rainbows Children’s Hospice – who are celebrating their 25th anniversary this year, was a very satisfactory achievement due entirely to the generosity of all concerned.

Thanks must also go to the six venues, who hosted us for the day – Head of Steam, Pitcher & Piano, Cross Keys, The Loxley, Lloyds No 1, and particularly All Bar One who pulled out all the stops throughout the day.

Café Bridge - What is it?

Café Bridge has been running in a number of towns and cities for many years.

A typical Café Bridge event is a duplicate pairs bridge game set up over multiple cafés and restaurants. Pairs move to a new venue after each round, guided by a movement card, while board sets remain on their starting tables throughout. The registration fee includes morning coffee, a 2-course lunch at one of the venues and a glass of wine/soft drink at the end of the day.

The object of each event is to provide an enjoyable day of friendly, sociable, duplicate Bridge for all participants and to generate funds for charity.

Café Bridge Nottingham continues to be a very successful phenomenon. It combines the fascination of playing the wonderful game of Bridge in a spirit of fun and enjoyment with fundraising on an impressive scale. In the eleven events since 2012 thousands of £££’s have been donated to charity. Café Bridge Nottingham has become a must go to event!

Café Bridge Nottingham is organised by a team of volunteers who take no payment for their time and effort so all proceeds from the events are donated to our chosen charity.

We hope that you will join us for the next event. If you would like more information, or to be added to our distribution list, please use the “Contact Us”

Café Bridge Nottingham - the history

Café Bridge Nottingham continues to be a very successful phenomenon. It combines the fascination of playing the wonderful game of Bridge in a spirit of fun with fundraising on an impressive scale. Phil Meats and Toni Smith started us off eleven events ago in 2012.

Our last happening was on 13th November 2018 when 80 people circulated round five venues all day in Newark and raised £1,500 for Lincs & Notts Air Ambulance.

The picture below shows Karen Carter who gave a presentation about the service. Many people present were astonished to learn that the recently acquired fully equipped helicopter was called upon to answer an emergency three or four times a day. A rota of pilots, doctors, and medics are on call seven days a week and they are supported by an enthusiastic group of volunteers. Karen showed us two photographs of a gravely injured young boy who was rescued by the service, and the same young boy many months later smiling and sitting in the helicopter with the crew, fully recovered - a heartwarming story.

Our next event

Put 15th October 2019 in your diary as soon as you can - we return to Newark for our thirteenth event.

If you are on our emailing list, you will receive an invitation in plenty of time. If you would like to be added to our emailing list, please use "Contact Us"